naptu2: I remember Terry Funk from the NWA in the late 1970s and early 1980s, not from the WWE. This was incredibly bloody and it messed with my mind back then.
I remember him when he was wrestling under the name "Mankind"
naptu2: I remember Terry Funk from the NWA in the late 1970s and early 1980s, not from the WWE. This was incredibly bloody and it messed with my mind back then.
'There were three professional wrestling promotions (from the US) that were shown on Nigerian TV in the late 1970s and early 1980s and they were'
I think the British wrestling on tv that preceded IWA was more straight wrestling than WWF. I still remember big names like Big Daddy and Kendo Nagasaki
'There were three professional wrestling promotions (from the US) that were shown on Nigerian TV in the late 1970s and early 1980s and they were'
I think the British wrestling on tv that preceded IWA was more straight wrestling than WWF. I still remember big names like Big Daddy and Kendo Nagasaki
I remember the British wrestling (Mick Mcmanus, Johnny Kwango and co) and I made a separate post about that, but this was about American wrestling.
(I also made a separate thread about Nigerian wrestling).
naptu2: The top ten most memorable events in professional wrestling (in no particular order).
Number 1
The Mighty Igor was the most popular wrestler on Nigerian television long before Hulk Hogan, the Von Erichs, Stone Cold Steve Austin, the Rock and John Cena.
Igor was billed as a Polish strong man and he often engaged in feats of great strength. Back then, in Nigeria, anything that was extra strong or unusually big was often nicknamed "Mighty Igor".
Igor was well liked right around the world. He often brought Polish sausages and other gifts for the fans and usually interacted with them before and after matches.
Dick The Bulldog Brower was the exact opposite. He was billed as a wild man that often bit his opponents. At that time (in Nigeria) any child that was fond of biting people was usually nicknamed "Bulldog Brower".
If I remember correctly, Bulldog Brower was one of only two wrestlers that attacked the crowd at the National Stadium when he came to Nigeria (the other was Ox Baker). The Mighty Igor also fought at the National Stadium in Lagos in the early 1980s.
This match between the Mighty Igor and Dick The Bulldog Brower took place sometime around 1979.
Igor was on his way to the ring, but he was delayed because he was interacting with the audience as usual. His manager got to the ring before him and stood at ringside. The Bulldog Brower was already in the ring and he pulled Igor's manager into the ring and gave him a thorough beating.
Igor was alerted by the crowd and he raced to the ring and carried his manager into the dressing room. He came back and gave Bulldog Brower the beating of his life. Unfortunately Igor was so enraged that he pushed the referee when he tried to stop him. Igor was subsequently disqualified, but it didn't look like he cared.
naptu2: The top ten most memorable events in professional wrestling.
Number 4
This is from the WWF and it happened in March 1983.
Big John Studd considered himself to be a true giant and he believed that nobody could slam him, so he issued a bodyslam challenge. Anybody that could slam him would win a certain amount of money and the sum was increased every week.
Of course Andre The Giant was bigger than John Studd and so you would naturally expect Andre to try to slam him, especially as Andre was the biggest or second biggest face in the WWF at that time (this was before Hulkamania and Andre and Bob Backlund ran things in the WWF).
There had been a feud between Andre and John Studd over who was the true giant. My sibling who is a doctor said (at the time) that John Studd was the true giant because Andre had acromegaly which made him grow beyond what was normal, but, after recently finding out about all the drugs that John Studd took, I think Andre was the true giant because he didn't have to take any drugs to enhance his size.
Anyway, John Studd knew that Andre could slam him and so they had taken several measures to ensure that Andre did not take part in the contest
The challenge was on again and everybody thought that Chief Jay Strongbow was the challenger, but Jay wagged his finger at the announcer and said that he wasn't the challenger and then Andre stepped out from behind the curtain. Did he slam John Studd? Find out.
naptu2: The top ten most memorable events in professional wrestling.
Number 5
It seems like the Internet does not believe that this happened, but I watched it with my two eyes and I know it did.
Mil Mascaras was the other very popular face in the IWA. He is an absolute legend and although at that time we mainly saw him in the IWA, he has worked for virtually all the major promotions including the WWF and the NWA/WCW.
It was Mil Mascaras that made the Lucha Libre style of wrestling popular in the US. In America he is known for his high flying moves, incredible technical ability, numerous holds and clean wrestling style. Rey Mysterio Junior said that Mascaras was his inspiration.
Anybody that wore a mask in Nigeria in the early 1980s was usually nicknamed Mil Mascaras and that was the name that was also given to nightsoil men, because they also wore masks (there were a few areas of Lagos that still used nightsoil men before the practice was banned in 1984). However, calling nightsoil men Mil Mascaras was a very dangerous thing because they could empty their load in your premises.
Mascaras was known as the "Man of a Thousand Masks" and it was this match that burned that name into my mind.
The Internet says that Mascaras was never unmasked and that's kind of true and not true.
I watched a match in which Mascaras' mask was removed. . .but he had another mask underneath.
Now Mascaras usually wears 2 masks when he's walking to the ring, a decorative mask which he takes off before the match begins and a second mask that's underneath the decorative mask. He leaves the second mask on while fighting.
Therefore, it means that Mascaras wore at least 3 masks when he was walking to the ring before that match. This made me wonder, "How many masks does this guy actually wear"? He really is the Man of a Thousand Mask.
Unfortunately I can't remember who his opponent was (this was at least 40 years ago) and the Internet doesn't believe that it happened, so I don't have any videos to show you.
naptu2: The top ten most memorable events in professional wrestling.
Number 6.
Monster heels, Kamala The Ugandan Giant and Abdullah The Butcher, were fighting against Austin Idol and Rick Martel when Abdullah mistakenly hit Kamala and their manager slapped Abdullah. This led to an insane battle between Abdullah and Kamala.
naptu2: I remember this very well because it was also a very special day for me.
It was 34 years ago and I had a very special event to attend. It was a special day in my life. I had left home by 7am and that was the first time in my life that I had ever entered the venue by the back entrance. It looked very different from there.
Anyway, it was still early in the morning when I got back home and this was on the TV (OGTV).
I remember this very well because, not only were the events in the ring insane, but the interview was actually more insane. Gino Britto actually ran away.
1986 Canadian wrestling. Abdullah The Butcher becomes a face. He fought with his former partner Kamala The Ugandan Giant.
naptu2: The top ten most memorable events in professional wrestling.
Number 7.
I watched this on my brother's birthday in 1987 and it was wonderful. Good food and good entertainment combined.
Andre The Giant had been the favourite face in the WWF and this was like the passing of the torch to Hulk Hogan.
Andre suffered from acromegaly and it seriously affected him in his later years. The condition means that his pituitary gland produces too much growth hormones and so he keeps growing. It was this condition that made him a giant, but it also gave him serious health problems.
Andre's knees could barely carry his weight and he often had to be confined to a wheelchair in his later years. The condition eventually killed him, as my sister had predicted, because his heart could not cope with the task of pumping blood through such a massive body.
Andre could be quite stubborn and he hated show offs. He could stop cooperating with and seriously punish wrestlers who he felt were showing off. Lex Luger once walked out of a match against Andre because Andre stopped cooperating. Hulk Hogan and Vince McMahon have stated that Andre often punished Big John Studd in the ring because he felt that John Studd was showing off.
Hogan said that he had written down his ideas about how he thought the match should go and given it to Andre, but Andre ignored him. So he went up to Andre on the day of the match and asked him how the match should be finished. Andre replied, "Don't worry"! Hogan said that he was worried.
However, Andre mostly followed Hogan script.
There was a point during the match that Hogan tried to carry and slam Andre, but Andre made himself a deadweight and Hogan fell backwards with Andre landing on top of him (you couldn't carry Andre if he didn't want you to carry him). Andre farted as he landed on Hogan and according to Hogan, he laughed heartily.
Then, at another point during the match, Andre said, "Slam". Hogan was surprised and he wasn't sure that he heard Andre right. Andre shouted again, "slam", so Hogan tried to pick up Andre. He tore his bicep muscles and his back gave out because of the effort, but he was able to pick Andre up and slam him. It wasn't the cleanest of slams because of the pain that Hogan felt when his muscles tore, but he did slam him.
I wish you could hear the noise in my house when Hogan slammed Andre. It was incredible.
This wasn't the first time that someone had slammed Andre and in fact, it wasn't the first time that Hogan had slammed Andre, but it was the most epic and most memorable because it was the main event of Wrestlemania 3 and it marked the passing of the torch from Andre to Hogan (also remember that Andre was heavier when Hogan slammed him in 1987).
naptu2: The top ten most memorable events in professional wrestling.
Number 8.
This match led to the creation of the Mega Powers (the Mania and the Madness) and it was held in 1987.
The Macho Man, Randy Savage was fighting against the Honky Tonk Man and he was about to defeat him. The Honky Tonk Man was managed by Jimmy Hart and therefore, the members of the Hart Foundation intervened in the match in his favour.
Bret Hart, Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, the Honky Tonk Man and Jimmy "The Mouth of the South" Hart were beating up Savage and the Honky Tonk Man was about to smash his guitar on Savage's head. Savage' manager, Miss Elizabeth, jumped into the ring to beg Honky Tonk Man not to do it, but she was shoved out of the way and the guitar was smashed on Savage's head.
Miss Elizabeth ran into the dressing room and came back with. . .Hulk Hogan! And the rest is history.
This scenario was repeated at Wrestlemania 4 in 1988. The Macho Man fought against The Million Dollar Man, Ted DiBiase and DiBiase had Andre The Giant in his corner. That felt very nice for me because Andre and DiBiase were tag team partners in 1970s WWF and it felt good to see them together again.
Anyway, Andre was interfering in the match and so Elizabeth ran to the dressing room to get Hogan to be in Savage's corner.
Hogan kept Andre at bay as Savage beat DiBiase to win his first world title.
naptu2: The top ten most memorable events in professional wrestling.
Bonus.
This insane incident is obviously one of the most epic moments in wrestling history. The only reason that it's not in the list is because I didn't watch it when it happened. I only saw it for the first time on the Internet.
Ox Baker was one of the most hated people in the world. He was the ultimate heel. He was hated so much in Nigeria that he almost fought with the audience when he came to wrestle here.
Ox was one of the people that made me believe that a plaster of paris cast was super strong. He often wore a POP cast and his signature move was the heart punch. There were stories about how he killed several of his opponents with the heart punch. The truth is that those opponents actually died from other health issues and it was just a coincidence that Ox wrestled them shortly before they died. However, most people believed that he actually killed them.
Remember that people didn't know that wrestling was kayfabe back in the day. They believed that everything was real and that's what caused the Cleveland Riot.
The Cleveland Riot
This incident happened in 1974 (ignore what's written in the video).
The storyline was that Ernie Ladd had just returned to the NWF and he was crowned "Wrestler of the Year". Johnny Powers was angry because he thought that he should have been wrestler of the year since he had been in the NWF for a longer time and he had achieved a lot. Powers and Ox Baker therefore attacked Ernie Ladd.
Ox Baker was giving The Big Cat Ernie Ladd the heart punch and the audience thought that he was about to kill Ladd. Ladd noticed the change in the crowd's mood and he told Baker, "The natives are getting restless", but Ox wanted to give, "Just a little more heat". Ernie saw when the riot started and he told Ox again, "The natives are getting restless", but Ox was so into it that he didn't realise what was happening.
The crowd stormed the ring because they thought that Ox Baker was about to kill Ernie Ladd. They threw chairs and other objects into the ring and tried to attack the wrestlers. Johnny Powers was the first to flee through the crowd and into the dressing room. Ox Baker was bigger than Powers and therefore much slower. He fled the ring and was trying to scale a wall when a fan hit him with a chair. It gave him a lifelong scar.
naptu2: The top ten most memorable events in professional wrestling.
Number 9.
I can't find an appropriate video for this on YouTube, but there's a perfect video on the WWE website. This is from Wrestlemania 8 in 1992.
Hulk Hogan and Sid Justice were partners, but Sid turned on Hogan and so they decided to settle things in one of the two main events of Wrestlemania 8.
Hogan was beating Sid when Papa Shango showed up and he and Sid double teamed Hogan. And then we heard the music and I saw a crazy figure running toward the ring.
It was the Ultimate Warrior's return to the WWF and the rest is history.
naptu2: I've written a bit about Silverbird Promotion's concerts in the early 1980s and their pageants (Miss Intercontinental) in the mid 1980s to the early 1990s. The other major event series that was promoted in the early 1980s was professional wrestling. So I'm going to write about Nigerian (and some foreign) professional wrestling.
The main wrestling show on tv in the 1970s was a very boring British promotion that had wrestlers like Mick Mcmanus. Then came the very exciting American shows, The IWA and the NWA. The IWA had more of fun and entertainment, while the NWA was filled with hard and bloody battles. There have been other wrestling shows that have dominated Nigerian tv since then and each show always has that one superstar or group of superstars that have become the favourite of Nigerian wrestling fans. We've had: -
The Mighty Igor (and Mil Mascaras) of the IWA.
Dusty Rhodes (and Andre the Giant) of the NWA.
The Von Erichs of Georgia Wrestling.
Hulk Hogan (and the Ultimate Warrior) of the WWF
etc.
In Nigeria, Power Mike retired from active wrestling in the 1970s and moved over to the business side of things. He established the Power Mike Promotions company and staged many shows at the National Stadium in Lagos in the early 1980s. These shows attracted wrestlers from around the world, including some of the biggest stars of the IWA. Wrestlers who fought at these shows included: -
The Mighty Igor (Polish American)
Ray Apollon (Trinidad and Tobago)
Ox Baker (American)
Johnny Kwango (Britain)
The Great Malumba (billed as being from Zaire, but he's actually from Trinidad and Tobago)
Kamala "The Ugandan Giant" (billed as being from Uganda, but he's actually American).
D.ick "The Bulldog" Brower (from Canada).
Power Uti (Nigeria).
Gentleman Chris Adams (Britain).
Elephando Bassey (Nigeria).
Etc.
The biggest of those wrestling matches (in my opinion) took place c1984 when The Mighty Igor fought Ray Apollon. Unbelievably, Igor, who was the most popular wrestler in Nigeria at that time, lost the match.
The matches were usually promoted in the Friday night and Saturday afternoon editions of the NTA News, then we would find out who won on the 7 or 9pm news on Saturday and finally the matches would be shown in full on the next Saturday's edition of NTA Sports.
The Great Malumba usually entered the arena holding a live chicken in his left hand. He would dance round the ring with the chicken, then behead the chicken with his teeth and smear its blood on the ringpost.
There were other Nigerians, like Mike Bamidele and Ben Lionheart, who fought in wrestling promotions outside the country who sometimes came back to participate in these shows.
Unfortunately I don't have any videos of any of those matches, so enjoy this match from the IWA.
naptu2: Do you remember British wrestling from the 1970s? Mick McManus and co? The weird (actually, just different from American) rules made it very interesting.
Well, this is one of the wrestlers from British wrestling that actually came to Nigeria. In fact, the fascinating thing here is that, in this video, he is billed as being from Lagos, Nigeria. When he came to Nigeria he was billed as being from the West Indies, while Wikipedia claims that he is British.
This is Johnny Kwango (the guy with the phenomenal headbutt).
naptu2: I can still remember that day in 1984. I had to attend a party that I really didn't want to go to. Luckily I got home by 7 and I immediately went to the TV. The 7 o'clock news was on and that's how I heard that the Mighty Igor had lost. I was shocked.
naptu2: I wonder when we'll have major wrestling promotions in Nigeria again. So many wrestlers from all over the world came to fight in Nigeria in the 1970s, '80s and early 1990s.
The Mighty Igor, Mil Mascaras, Ox Baker and Kamala The Ugandan Giant from the US
Johnny Kwango and Gentleman Chris Adams from the UK
Ray Apollon from Trinidad and Tobago
The Great Mulumba from Zaire (now Congo)
Etc.
I remember when Mulumba came to Nigeria. I loved watching wrestling with certain older people at that time. Their facial expressions when someone was hit or when blood was oozing out of someone were hilarious.
I had been ill, so my doctor came to check up on me. It was a Saturday so Sports Spectacular was on TV and they were showing wrestling from the National Stadium.
Then the Great Mulumba came into the arena holding a white chicken. He danced round the ring with the chicken and then beheaded the chicken with his teeth. The look on my doctor's face was priceless.
People like you should be avoided. You moan at everything and contribute nothing. You expect everything to be done for you.
Why didn’t you create a thread and inform others? Is it not ordinary people like you that create and update news here?
If I did so, it’ll go unanswered. The corrupt moderators will ignore it until one of their regulars creates a less detailed version of the report. I’ve used here long enough to know not to waste energy on certain things.
